Rowing (W) News

Wildcats Row to 8 Wins in Oklahoma

Wildcats Row to 8 Wins in Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The Kansas State rowing team opened its spring sprint season this weekend at the OU Invitational and came away with strong performances from the 1st Varsity 8 and some of the Novice crews. K-State tallied a total of eight wins in head-to-head competition over three days of action on the Oklahoma River highlighted by a win over Kansas by the 1V8 and Novice 8.

“It was a great start to the season,” said K-State Head Coach Patrick Sweeney. “For having had only three days of water practice beforehand, our technique was reasonably solid and all boats raced hard.”

On Friday against Tulsa, the Wildcats tallied a pair of wins in the novice races but could not defeat the Golden Hurricane in the varsity races. K-State won the Novice 8 and Novice 4 against Tulsa with the 1st Novice 8 winning by a large margin. K-State could not keep that momentum going against Tulsa’s varsity crews with Tulsa taking all three races. The Wildcats did have a tight battle with Tulsa in the 1st Varsity 8 race, with K-State falling by just more than two seconds.

During the morning session on Saturday, K-State took on the hosting Oklahoma Sooners and could not keep pace. The Sooners claimed all five races in the matchup.

In the afternoon session Saturday, the Novice 4 took down Tulsa again, this time by more than six seconds. The 1st Novice 8 won its race against Kansas as the two in-state rivals paired up for duals in the afternoon session. The Jayhawks got the best of the Wildcats in the Varsity 4 and 2nd Varsity 8 races to score a total of 12 points, but K-State won the most valuable race in the series taking the 1st Varsity 8 by nearly three seconds and earning 15 points.

Sunday, the Wildcats faced Oklahoma City University in two duals and went up against Oklahoma and Tulsa again in one race each. The Wildcats defeated OCU in both races with the 1V8 posting a dominant win by almost 17 seconds. The Varsity 4 boat also won in commanding fashion crossing the finish line nearly a minute-and-a-half faster. The Sooners were again able to take down the 1N8, but K-State was able to defeat Tulsa’s 2V8.

“We’re admittedly behind our potential, but this weekend did give us the opportunity to try different configurations of lineups and find out where people perform best under race conditions,” Sweeney said. “A very positive weekend was had by all.”

Next up for the Wildcats will be the Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas. Competition is set to begin on Lady Bird Lake on Friday with three days of rowing. K-State will again take on a number of different teams with a similar format to the OU Invitational.